Another promise was made in a Fianna Fáil manifesto in 1997. It promised "to increase the first-time buyer's grant to £6,350 for couples". That was some commitment in the light of the abandonment of the first-time buyer's grant. Now we are faced with its abolition and an increase in VAT which sees first-time-buyers with higher bills to pay. We are all familiar with the Bacon reports which were produced by the last Government and aimed at solving the crisis in house prices. We also know how useless those proposals turned out to be.